No sooner came out from under house after running new line to fridge than the mailman showed up with my new flex plate (that was fast)...unfortunetly unable to work on car today. A must that I spend the rest of day drinking beer to dilute and ward off the effects of inhaling so much dust and fibers from insulation and to make me forget how bad my knees are hurting from crawling around down there...CHEERS!

Just open the window near the fridge and run a long extension lead out to power. that,ll keep the beer cold!!

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Sure glad I asked...for sure I would have bolted everything up first then tried to align up engine with converter attached to bell housing...Thanks for catching that, saved me again. Thought I would get a couple days off to get in some boating waiting for flex plate to show up but... NO, the damn kitchen wiring is messed up and popping breakers so now I get to craw around under the house with the spiders to run a new and seperate line to fridge...it's a must to keep the beer cold.

Make sure the converter is fully seated. You have to turn it back and forth while pushing in on it. It should slip back 1 or 2 times depending on your first stab. If the converter is not back behind the front of the bell housing it's not in far enough and as stated previously, even if you can get it to bolt up front pump damage may occur. Its not rocket science but a learned "feel".

Also many of the converters have a couple of drain plugs on them. There are two larger holes in the flex plate that these have to line up with before installing the bolts. It is easiest to check this with the tranny out. Make the fitment pretty obvious.

I hope I'm not preaching to the choir on this but just some tips I wanted to pass along. Chuck in NH

Y's guys rule!
Looking for McCullouch VS57 brackets and parts. Also looking for 28 Chrysler series 72 parts. And early Hemi parts.

MoonShadow, 292 w/McCulloch, 28 Chrysler Roadster, 354 Hemi)
Manchester, New Hampshire

If you are installing the engine with the trans already in the car start the motor into the belhousing by aligning the pins on the motor.Bolt it up and then turn the flexplate to align with the holes in the convertor.You can only use the original 6 bolts but I guess the extra holes makes it easier to bolt it together.I had a look at the pic of the replacement flexplate.Looks like a much better design than the original.

  

Allways install converter carefully into trans then align and bolt to engine, this is to avoid damage to the front pump seal.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Are you saying to fit converter to bell housing before bolting to flex plate, lower engine into position and then fasten? The replacement flex plate from tee bird looks as if it may bolt all around the converter not just the six bolts on two tabs....I could be looking at it wrong.

How would I have ever known to do this stuff....You guys should have your own TV show. TeeBirdProducts are sending out replacement for Flex Plate today. My little car (well not so little...of the seven vehicles I own, except for my F150 it is the largest) is going to be so happy.

Ron:

More on the converter.  When you took it apart, did you replace the seal around the perimeter, just inside the bolt circle?  It is an O ring type seal, but actually had a square cross section.  It is probably hard, and has been disturbed, so it may leak if not replaced.  Also, the hub of that converter is held in with about 6 bolts, and if you take it out you'll find a seal in there also.  While it's out is a good time to replace them.

Also, when you put the converter back on the trans, make sure the two tangs on the converter hub land between the keys in the front pump.  You can verify this by turning the converter back and forth about 180 degrees.  You will hear a slight click each way as the tangs contact the keys.

John - "The Hoosier Hurricane"

Just my 2 cents worth.You have the motor out now.I would get it on a stand so you can work on the bottom end in a little cleaner enviroment.Take the pan off and replace the rear main with a neoprene one from Best gaskets.You will need a pan gasket,seal for the oil feed tube to oil pump and an oil pump gasket if you want to have look at the oil pump condition.Also a good time to clean the oil pump pickup screen in the pan.When I took mine apart you could NOT see the mesh for all the accumulated junk on the pickup.The people at Tee-Bird are a great bunch.Helpful and great at answering questions.They would also have the mentioned parts to do the rear main except maybe the Best seal.Finding your noise problem is good.Keep up the good work.When you put it back together and it runs and drives like it should you will feel a real sense of accomplishment.I know how it is-been there, done that! ,By the way the Ford shop manual does not cover Fordomatic repairs and service.They had a separate book just for Fordomatic service.There are several on Ebay at various prices.